Recall Hamilton - Reasons #28 to #34

This weekly series lists reason to recall Andrew Hamilton. Click Here to read a full analysis of the themes that emerged when we analyzed the first 20 reasons. Briefly, we identified 5 themes -

• Conduct unbecoming
• Lack of compassion
• Lack of concern for the City and the people
• "Phony" Conservative values
• Conflicts of interest

The last article listed reasons#21 to #27 and this article covers #28 to #34.

NEW REASONS

#34. Hamilton voted in favor of adding hundreds of new homes in the City while we struggle with traffic and our school classrooms remain over-crowded. (5/5/15, 12/15/15, 9/20/16).

#33. Hamilton voted against creating a Traffic Commission (2/7/17) even though everyone knows how much traffic and parking are residents’ concerns, and even though many of our neighboring cities have Traffic Commissions.

#32. Hamilton calls himself a “fiscal conservative” yet he voted against competitive bidding on major contracts. (7/21/15, 12/1/15)

#31. Hamilton is not an independent voice. His election committee takes money from other Lake Forest City Council members and then votes nearly 100% of the time to support those Council members.

#30. Hamilton has the poorest record for offering new ideas during Council meetings (based on “Council Assignment List”). In the first 3 months of 2017 when more than a dozen initiatives were put forward, Hamilton initiated none.

#29. Based on FPPC Forms 460 filed with the State, Hamilton takes money from companies doing business or wanting to do business with the city, then votes to give them contracts or extend their contracts. This creates the perception of corruption.

#28. On one occasion Hamilton, as Mayor, violated the Brown Act by his comments. I asked for a ruling from the City Attorney, who confirmed the violation, and Hamilton, unconcerned, continued to violate the Act.

ALREADY LISTED

#27. Hamilton calls himself a “fiscal conservative” yet he is the second highest user of taxpayer money for trips, hotels, etc. (based on City Clerk official travel records)

#26. During the recall, female signature gatherers complained that Hamilton took salacious pictures and videos of them, and then placed them on the Internet without their consent

#25. Hamilton calls himself a “fiscal conservative” yet he voted to allow developers to pay “in lieu” affordable housing fees instead of building onsite, a practice that saved developers millions but which reduced the City’s equity by a factor of 2 to 4 times. ( 5/5/15, 12/15/15)

#24. As Mayor, Hamilton ordered residents not to applaud, not so laugh, and not even to speak. He then tried to institutionalize these rules, but fortunately failed (12/15/15). Even his own Gang weren't prepared to support such harsh measures.

#23. During the 2016 recall, Hamilton went around the City harassing residents seeking signatures. It got so bad that the Police had to be called.

#22. Hamilton calls himself a “fiscal conservative” yet in 2015 he refused to vote to ask City staff to cut the fat from the $40,000,000 plus annual budget. Just a 5% reduction would have meant a savings of $2,000,000 per year.

#21. As Mayor, Hamilton had a temper tantrum and abruptly ended a City Council meeting, violating Roberts’ Rules of Order, with items still on the agenda.

#20. In 2017 Hamilton attended fewer events than anyone else on the Council. In fact, of nearly 70 events this year Hamilton attended a mere handful. Even Dwight Robinson who holds a full time job in Long Beach managed to make more events than Hamilton did.

#19. Hamilton calls himself a “fiscal conservative” yet he voted against getting competitive bids for our major contracts, such as police (7/21/15) and animal control (12/1/15).

#18. Hamilton supported the hate-filled and racist “Nick is Nuts campaign. Now his supporters as asking everyone to encourage "civility" but where were they last year when these terrible smears were being spread.

#17. Hamilton voted against giving preference to Lake Forest businesses. (7/21/15). Many cities give preference to their own people and businesses because the money comes back to the City in sales tax and jobs. Hamilton gets very few campaign contributions from Lake Forest people and businesses, so his loyalty is not with our City.
#16. Hamilton calls himself a “fiscal conservative” yet he voted a $25,000 bonus to the former City Manager (6/21/16) who already received more than $300,000 in compensation and whom many criticized for problems with Saddleback Ranch Road (Dangerous road), Tamarisk Park (Forgot to put in access for the disabled), Village Pond Park (left to stagnate for years), etc.

#15. The developers and the building industry spent tens of thousands of dollars to put Hamilton in office and keep him there, and in return Hamilton voted 100% of the time for any proposal that added extra homes or bedrooms to the City, even when those proposals were opposed by staff and or the residents and even while residents worried about traffic and overcrowding at the schools. Whose interests does Hamilton represent? The residents or the developers.

#14. Hamilton voted against creating a public safety committee to help reduce crime. (7/21/15) even though our City consistently has one of the highest crime rates among our neighbors. Is there anything more important a City can do than help reduce the crime rate?

#13. Hamilton refused to stop building Saddleback Ranch Road even when residents en masse pointed out how badly designed and dangerous the street was (10/6/15). He relented only after being served with a recall notice. (11/3/15). The delay cost the city more than $30,000.

#12. Hamilton calls himself a “fiscal conservative” yet he voted to spend $250,000 more on street sweeping and the company that gave money to his campaign got the contract instead of the lower bidder (5/19/15). This is how special interests impact our pocketbook.

#11. Hamilton voted against proceeding with Village Pond Park renovations. (9/6/16). Thanks only to Council members Leah Basile and Adam Nick did we finally manage to get the renovations started.

#10. Hamilton received campaign contributions from companies like CR&R and Marina Landscape, did not reveal this in the Council meetings, and voted for them, demonstrating, at the very least, the perception of compromised integrity. (4/19/16, 2/21/17). Council members should only have the interests of the people in mind when they award contracts.
#9. Hamilton voted against moving to district elections (10/6/15) and now, because of his vote, the City is being threatened with a lawsuit and we will spend tens of thousands of dollars in legal expenses. We will probably spend much more money on legal fees for this single mistake than we will spend verifying signatures for the recall.
#8. As Mayor, Hamilton threatened people with “time out” and actually put the residents and everyone else in "time out" on a number of occasions. This action cost the City thousands of dollars in wasted staff time as people had to sit there doing nothing until Hamilton was satisfied he had punished everyone sufficiently.

#7. In the last week alone Hamilton missed the Leadership Breakfast, the Senior Awards event, the Smart Business workshop, the ribbon cuttings for the Performers Academy and Pet Lingo. For comparison, Mayor Pro Tem Leah Basile and I attended more events in April alone than Hamilton attended all year long. Hamilton does, however, manage to make it to developer sponsored meetings.

#6. As Mayor, Hamilton had the worst record for attending city events. He earned the nickname "Mayor M.I.A."(Click here).

#5. Hamilton voted against creating a nonprofit Community Foundation to help the needy in Lake Forest. (4/1/14). Our neighbors have had great success using such committees.

#4. Hamilton voted against allowing Meals on Wheels to operate from a rarely used room in City Hall. This means that dozens of needy seniors did not get their hot meals. (6/2/15). Hamilton thought it was OK for them to wait 3 years until the new Civic Center gets built. Is this what we expect from our representatives? It would have cost the city $0 to do this, but what a difference it would have made to a few dozen senior citizens.

#3. As Mayor, Hamilton cut people off in mid-sentence when they were talking to the Council. But when they were saying something Hamilton wanted to hear, he allowed them to extend. This isn't the way people expect to be treated when they take the time to speak with their representatives.

#2. Hamilton voted against the City creating our own local no-kill animal shelter. (4/19/16). Putting aside the humanitarian concerns, this vote cost the City $600,000+ in payments to the County for us to pay our share of the new shelter in which we have no equity. In addition, our ongoing fees have gone up more than 40%. Hamilton voted this way even though there was a local animal hospital that was willing to be used as the local shelter, and costs would have been significantly less and we would have had the benefits of local service and extra revenues for the City.

#1. As Mayor, Hamilton threatened citizens with Police action because they were talking after he ordered that people be silent. Imagine being ordered to be silent when you came to your City Hall to exercise your constitutional rights.

If you want more information about the recall go to the website or visit their Facebook page.